Hamas, Fatah battle in Gaza, West Bank

DIAA HADIDAssociated Press Writer

Published Saturday, December 23, 2006

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Fierce fighting between Hamas and Fatah militants in Gaza and the West Bank marred a shaky truce Friday, and moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas blocked dozens of Hamas government appointments in an intensifying power struggle.

A street battle broke out early Friday in Gaza City, near Abbas' residence and the house of Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar of Hamas. The fighting started after Hamas militiamen tried to free two members kidnapped by a Fatah-linked clan.

The battle quickly spread out of control after bodyguards for several parliamentarians living in the area assumed they were coming under attack. Within minutes, gunmen manning strategic rooftop positions began shooting at each other and launching rocket-propelled grenades.

The violence died down after local mediators intervened.

Despite the intensity of the fighting, no one was wounded, health officials said. However, a Hamas militiaman injured in the course of the kidnapping a day earlier died of his wounds Friday.

Residents of the weary neighborhood, the scene of other gunbattles during the week, said they put their children in bathtubs for protection against stray bullets.

Elsewhere in Gaza, Hamas militants accidentally misfired a grenade while training, injuring two children, one who lost his eye, security officials said. The group had no comment.

Although Abbas' Fatah party controls the presidency, Hamas controls parliament and the Palestinian Cabinet, putting it in charge of most government functions.

The factions have wrangled for power for months, and the situation turned increasingly violent after Abbas declared that efforts to form a more moderate coalition government with the militantly anti-Israel Islamic group had broken down. Abbas called for early elections -- a move Hamas believes is tantamount to a coup.

Adding to the tensions, Abbas blocked five major Hamas appointments to senior government positions. Earlier this week, Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas had accused Abbas of trying to subvert the government's authority by refusing to authorize the appointments.

Adnan Amr, a legal adviser to Abbas, said the president rejected 40 appointments in all.

Salah Bardawil, a Hamas lawmaker, said the senior appointments were knocked down by those in the president's office "who want a coup."

Fighting also spilled over into the West Bank city of Nablus.

About a dozen gunmen from Hamas and Fatah clashed near a soccer stadium where Hamas men were preparing for a rally Friday. Palestinian hospital officials said six people were wounded. The battle took place in a residential area, and terrified residents huddled in their homes.

One woman living close to the stadium, Tiham Tufah, said she hid with her husband and two daughters in their living room. "We can't leave the house or look out the window. We live in fear," Tufah said.

Despite the battle between masked Hamas militants and Fatah gunmen in civilian clothing, about 4,000 people attended the rally, including veiled women from Hamas.

The intensified Palestinian infighting has coincided with stepped-up rocket attacks on Israeli territory that have destabilized a monthlong cease-fire between militant factions and Israel.

Two rockets were fired at Israel from Gaza on Friday. On Thursday, at least six rockets hit in Israel, one of them injuring a 2-year-old boy.

A spokesman for militant group Islamic Jihad, which has fired rockets at Israel all week, said he hoped the move would show Hamas and Fatah "that their real enemy is Israel and not each other."

Israeli officials say Palestinian militants have fired nearly 50 rockets since the Nov. 26 truce. Israel has not retaliated, but Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned this week that his patience was wearing thin.